Streamer handling apparatus for use on seismic survey vessels

ABSTRACT

Streamer handling apparatus for use on a seismic survey vessel ( 10 ) comprises one or more trolleys ( 40 ) movable along a guide rail ( 50 ) over the width of stern ( 18 ) and of the streamer deck ( 20 ) of the vessel. The or each trolley ( 40 ) is provided with a clamping device ( 70 ) which can be used to grip the inboard end of part of a multi-section streamer ( 28 ) deployed over the stern end of the streamer deck ( 20 ), so facilitating the transfer of parts of streamers from one streamer ( 28 ) station to another across the width of the streamer deck ( 20 ).

This invention relates to streamer handling apparatus for use on seismicsurvey vessels, and is more particularly concerned with such apparatusfor use on seismic survey vessels of the kind used in performing 3Dmarine seismic surveys covering large areas.

In order to perform a 3D marine seismic survey, an array of marineseismic streamers, each typically several thousand meters long andcontaining a large number of hydrophones and associated electronicequipment distributed along its length, is towed at about 5 knots behinda seismic survey vessel, which also tows one or more seismic sources,typically air guns. Acoustic signals produced by the seismic sources aredirected down through the water into the earth beneath, where they arereflected from the various strata. The reflected signals are received bythe hydrophones in the streamers, digitised and then transmitted to theseismic survey vessel, where they are recorded and at least partiallyprocessed with the ultimate aim of building up a representation of theearth strata in the area being surveyed.

At the present time, a typical streamer array used by the Applicantcomprises a 700 meter wide array of eight evenly spaced streamers, eachabout 4000 meters long. The streamers are towed by their lead-ins, iethe armoured electrical cables that convey electrical power, control anddata signals between the vessel and the streamers, as described in theApplicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,156, and their spread is controlled andmaintained by MONOWING deflectors of the kind described in theApplicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,892. Wider arrays containing even morestreamers can be achieved using the technique of the Applicant's PCTPatent Application No. PCT/IB98/01435 (WO 99/15913).

From time to time, it may be desired to change the length of one or moreof the streamers in an array while at sea. Since each streamer isnormally made up from a large number of substantially identical 100meter streamer sections connected together end to end, such a change istypically achieved by transferring sections from one streamer toanother. This typically involves partially reeling in one streamer untilonly the sections to be transferred are still in the water,disconnecting those sections and connecting them to a derrick, and usingthe derrick to transfer the disconnected sections to a differentstreamer station. This procedure has the disadvantages of involvingseveral crew members, and of being time consuming and inconvenient. Itis therefore an object of the present invention to provide streamerhandling apparatus which alleviates at least one of these disadvantages.

According to the present invention, there is provided streamer handlingapparatus for use on a seismic survey vessel, the apparatus comprisingguide means adapted to be mounted on the streamer deck of the vessel,adjacent the stern end of the streamer deck, so as to extendtransversely over at least a part of the width of the streamer deck, andtrolley means movable across the streamer deck, the trolley means beingadapted to engage the guide means so as to be guided thereby in itsmovement across the streamer deck, and including a clamping device forgripping the inboard end of part of a streamer whose other end isdeployed over the stern end of the streamer deck.

Thus when it is desired to transfer part of a first streamer to the endof a second streamer, to increase the length of the second streamer, andassuming that the second streamer is initially fully reeled in, thetrolley means is positioned at the deployment station of the firststreamer, and the first streamer is reeled in over the trolley meansuntil the inboard end of the first streamer section of the part to betransferred reaches the trolley means. The inboard end of that sectionis then clamped in the clamping device, so that the trolley means andits clamping device take up the load of the part of the streamer to betransferred (which is still deployed over the stern of the streamerdeck), and the remainder of the first streamer is disconnected from thepart to be transferred. The trolley means, and the end of the streamerpart clamped to it, are then moved laterally until they reach thedeployment station of the second streamer, whereupon the end of thesecond streamer is connected to the end of the streamer part clamped tothe trolley means. At this point, the clamping device is released, andthe second streamer, now of increased length, can be fully deployed.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the apparatus comprises twosuch trolley means, each movable transversely over substantially thewhole of a respective half (port or starboard) of the width of thestreamer deck.

Advantageously, the guide means includes, for the or each trolley means,a respective guide rail adapted to be secured to but spaced above thestreamer deck, and the or each trolley means includes at least one guidewheel which engages the underside of the guide rail, and preferably twosuch guide wheels which are spaced apart in the direction of movement ofthe trolley means.

Preferably the or each guide rail is disposed between its trolley meansand the stern end of the streamer deck.

Typically, the stern end of the streamer deck is provided with a guard(or safety) rail extending its whole width at about waist height, inwhich case the or each trolley means may include at least one guideroller which engages the inboard side of the guard rail, and preferablytwo such guide rollers which are spaced apart in the direction ofmovement of the trolley means.

Conveniently, the or each trolley means is also provided with at leastone support wheel which runs on the streamer deck.

Preferably, the or each trolley means is motor driven, for example bymeans of a respective hydraulic motor which is fixedly disposed at oneend of the guide rail of the trolley means and which drives the trolleymeans via a chain connected to the trolley means.

Conveniently, the or each trolley means includes storage space,preferably in the form of at least one drawer, for storing tools and thelike.

The invention also includes a seismic survey vessel incorporatingstreamer handling apparatus as defined in any of the precedingstatements of invention.

The invention will now be described, by way of example only, withreference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a deep marine seismic survey vessel,substantially at the level of its waterline, the vessel incorporatingstreamer handling apparatus in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the streamer deck of the vessel of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a stern view of the vessel of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the streamer handling apparatus of the presentinvention; and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are end and top views respectively of the apparatus ofFIG. 4.

The deep marine seismic survey vessel shown in the drawings is indicatedgenerally at 10, and forms the subject of PCT Patent Application No.PCT/GB98/01832 (WO 99/00295). The vessel 10 has a displacement monohull12 which is typically just over 80 meters long at the waterline (andjust under 90 meters long overall), with a beam of about 24 meters. Themaximum displacement of the vessel 10 is typically about 7500 tonnes.

As can be seen in FIG. 1, the shape of the hull 12 at the waterline isfairly conventional, in that the width of the hull increases smoothlyand progressively from the bow 14 to a centre section 16 ofsubstantially uniform width, and then progressively decreases, but to amuch lesser extent, from the centre section to a wide cut-off stern 18.Below the waterline, the taper towards the stern 18 increasesprogressively with depth.

The vessel 10 has most if not all of the major features common to avessel of its type and size, e.g. multiple diesel engines, bowthrusters, electric generators, accommodation for 60 to 70 persons, ahelideck, winches, derricks, emergency equipment, etc. However, sincethese features can take any of several well known and conventionalforms, and are not germane to the present invention, they will not bedescribed in detail for the sake of simplicity.

Additionally, the vessel 10 is arranged in accordance with the inventionfor performing deep marine seismic surveys, as will now be described.

Thus as can be seen in FIG. 2, the vessel 10 has a streamer deck 20which extends aft from the centre section 16, increasing linearly inwidth as it does so from about 24 meters at the centre section to about37.5 meters at the stern 18, the increase in width taking placesymmetrically on each side of the fore-and-aft centre line of the vessel10. The overall length of the streamer deck is about 36 meters, whilethe height of the streamer deck 20 above the waterline of the vessel 10is typically about 9 meters.

Within the centre section 16 of the vessel 10, sixteen large poweredstreamer drums 22 are distributed across the width of the vessel, eachdrum having its axis extending substantially horizontally andtransversely of the vessel 10 and being capable of storing a respectivestreamer up to 6000 meters long, together with its lead-in. The outerfour drums 22 on each side of the centre line of the vessel 10 aremounted at least partly below the streamer deck 20, while the innereight drums are mounted on the streamer deck itself, the drums beingpartly interleaved to fit them in the available space. The lower drums22 overspool, while the upper ones underspool.

At the centre of the stern 18 of the vessel 10, beneath the streamerdeck 20, is a deck 24 known as the gun deck. From the gun deck 24,seismic sources 26, typically multiple airgun seismic sources of thekind described in the Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,660, are deployed,typically using a handling system of the kind described in theApplicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,920.

In use, the streamers, indicated rather diagrammatically at 28, eachpass over a respective guide 30 and then along the length of thestreamer deck towards the stern 18 of the vessel 10. As they pass overthe streamer deck 20, the streamers 28 pass via respective tensionrelieving devices 32, and at the stern 18 they each pass over arespective further guide, this time in the form of a spooling block 34.To save space, the spooling blocks 34 can be of the type described inthe Applicant's PCT Patent Application No. PCT/IB97/00156 (WO 97/29302).Each spooling block 34 forms part of a respective streamer handlingapparatus, by means of which the streamer 28 can be raised and loweredwith respect to the streamer deck 20 as described in detail in theaforementioned PCT Patent Application No. PCT/GB98/01832.

Once deployed over the stern 18 of vessel 10, the sixteen streamers 28,towed at about 5 knots by the vessel, are formed into an array typicallyup to 1500 meters wide, using the Applicant's MONOWING deflectors andthe technique of the Applicant's PCT Patent Application No.PCT/IB98/01435 as mentioned hereinbefore. This wide streamer array isthen used, in conjunction with the seismic sources 26, to perform a 3Dmarine seismic survey as described earlier.

Each of the streamers 28 is made up of a large number of substantiallyidentical streamer sections, typically each 100 meters long, which arereleasably connected together end to end by electrical orelectro-optical connectors. As already mentioned, it may sometimes bedesired to change the length of one or more of the streamers 28 bytransferring streamer sections from one streamer to another streamerwhile the streamers are being towed. This is achieved using theadditional streamer handling apparatus of FIGS. 4 to 6.

Thus the additional streamer handling apparatus of FIGS. 4 to 6 is basedupon two wheeled trolleys mounted on the streamer deck 20 of the vessel10, and each movable transversely of the streamer deck across arespective half (port of starboard) of its width: one of these trolleys,the port one, is shown at 40 in FIGS. 4 to 6 at each end of range oftransverse movement.

The streamer deck 20 is provided with an inwardly-leaning waist-highguard (or safety) rail 42, which extends across the whole of its sternedge and partly round the corners at the port and starboard ends of Itsstern edge. The guard rail 42 comprises a continuous steel tube 44,which forms its inwardly leaning top and which is secured to thestreamer deck 20 by spaced apart inwardly curved brackets (orstanchions) 46, and a curved fairing 48, which is secured to theoutboard sides of the brackets 46 and which extends from the tube 44down to the stern edge of the streamer deck to form a continuoussmoothly curved surface on which the streamers 28 can rest while beinghandled. Two aligned guide rails or beams 50, one for each trolley 40,are secured to the streamer deck 20, beneath the guard rail 42, bybrackets 51, in such a manner that they are spaced just above thestreamer deck and extend substantially parallel to the guard rail 42. Aswill become apparent, the guide rails 50 each serve both to secure arespective one of the trolleys 40 to the streamer deck 20, and to guidethe movement of the trolley across the streamer deck, while the guardrail 42 provides additional guidance to both trolleys.

Thus each of the trolleys 40 has a generally rectangular body 52supported on the streamer deck 20 on a wheel 53 having a pneumatic tyre.The body 52 is provided adjacent the bottom of its stern side with abracket 54 carrying two spaced apart guide wheels 56, which engage theunderside of the respective guide rail 50. The stern side of the trolley40 is also provided, above the bracket 54, with two further spaced apartguide wheels 57 which engage the top of the guide rail 50. The guidewheels 57 have axially spaced flanges 58 which embrace the top of theguide rail 50, so that the guide wheels 56, 57 together serve to securethe trolley 40 to the streamer deck 20. A pair of spaced apart concaveguide rollers 59, mounted at the top of the stern side of the body 52,engage the inboard side of the tube 44 of the guard rail 42, so that theguard rail 42 and the guide rails 50 constrain the trolleys 40 to movetransversely across the streamer deck 20.

Each trolley 40 is driven by a respective hydraulic motor 60, mounted onthe streamer deck 20 at the outer end of the respective guide rail 50,via a respective double chain 62. The opposite ends of this double chain62 are attached to its trolley 40, and the chain extends from thetrolley to the respective motor 60, around respective drive cogs 64driven by the motor, along the full length of the respective guide rail50, round respective idler cogs 66 at the other end of the respectiveguide rail 50, and back to the trolley.

The upper surface 68 of the body 52 of each trolley 40 is at about waistheight, so that the trolley effectively serves as a movable workbench,and is provided with a streamer clamp 70 which is adapted to encircleand grip the metal connector provided at the end of each 100 meterstreamer section making up the streamers 28. The body 52 of each trolley40 also includes a drawer 72 in which tools for working on the streamers28 can be kept.

Each trolley 40 is provided on one side with a bolt or pawl 74 which canengage a respective horizontally extending pipe or tube 76 welded to theunderside of the tube 44 of the guard rail 42, at right angles thereto,at each streamer station across the streamer deck 20, so that thetrolley can be locked in position at each streamer station.

In use, when it is desired to transfer an end part of a first streamerto the end of a second streamer, in order to increase the length of thesecond streamer, and assuming the second streamer is already reeled in,the appropriate one of the trolleys 40 is moved across the streamer deck20 and locked in position at the streamer station of the first streamer,beneath the streamer (since as described in the aforementioned PCTPatent Application No. PCT/GB98/01832, the spooling blocks 34 supportthe streamers well above the streamer deck 20 while the streamers aredeployed for normal use). The first streamer is then reeled in over thetrolley 40 until the inboard end of the part to be transferredapproaches the trolley. The spooling block 34 is then lowered asdescribed in PCT Patent Application No. PCT/GB98/101832, thus loweringthe streamer, until the end connector of the streamer section definingthe inboard end of the part of the first streamer to be transferredreaches the upper surface 68 of the trolley 40, and can be clamped inthe streamer clamp 70. The trolley 40 and the clamp 70 now take up theload represented by the streamer part to be transferred, which part ispartly resting on the curved fairing 48, but mostly still in the seabehind the vessel 10. The inboard part of the first streamer is thendisconnected from the part to be transferred, and possibly reeled ontoits drum 22.

Next, the trolley 40 is moved transversely of the streamer deck 20 andlocked in position at the streamer station of the second streamer, whoseend is connected to the end of the streamer part held in the clamp 70.Finally, the clamp 70 is released, the spooling block 34 is raised backto its normal height, and the second streamer, now of increased length,is fully deployed in the usual way.

The streamer handling apparatus based on the trolleys 40 is extremelysimple and efficient in use, enabling one person to effect the transferdescribed above quickly, easily and safely.

Many modifications can be made to the described embodiment of theinvention. For example, two trolleys 40 can be provided for each half ofthe streamer deck 22 (making four trolleys in total). But in the limit,a single trolley 40 movable over the whole width of the streamer deckcan be used on smaller vessels. Additionally, the trolleys 40 can bedriven by electric (rather than hydraulic) motors, and can take otherforms and shapes capable of guided movement transversely of the sternend of the streamer deck.

What is claimed is:
 1. Streamer handling apparatus for use on a seismic survey vessel, the apparatus comprising guide means adapted to be mounted on the streamer deck of the vessel, adjacent the stern end of the streamer deck, so as to extend transversely over at least a part of the width of the streamer deck, and trolley means movable across the streamer deck, the trolley means being adapted to engage the guide means so as to be guided thereby in its movement across the streamer deck, and including a clamping device for gripping the inboard end of part of a streamer whose other end is deployed over the stern end of the streamer deck.
 2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, comprising two of said trolley means, each movable transversely over substantially the whole of a respective half (port or starboard) of the width of the streamer deck.
 3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the guide means comprises, for the or each trolley means, a respective guide rail adapted to be secured to but spaced above the streamer deck, the or each trolley means including at least one guide wheel for engaging the underside of the guide rail.
 4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, in which the or each trolley means includes two of said guide wheels, which are spaced apart in the direction of movement of the trolley means.
 5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, in which the or each guide rail is disposed between its trolley means and the stern end of the streamer deck.
 6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, for use where the stern end of the streamer deck is provided with a guard rail extending its whole width, in which the or each trolley means includes at least one guide roller which engages the inboard side of the guard rail.
 7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, in which the or each trolley means includes two of said guide rollers, which are spaced apart in the direction of movement of the trolley means.
 8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the or each trolley means is provided with at least one support wheel which runs on the streamer deck.
 9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the or each trolley means is motor driven.
 10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the or each trolley means is motor driven by means of a respective hydraulic motor which is fixedly disposed at one end of the guide rail of the trolley means and which drives the trolley means via a chain connected to the trolley means.
 11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the or each trolley means includes storage means for storing tools and the like.
 12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the storage means comprises at least one drawer.
 13. A streamer handling apparatus for use on a seismic survey vessel, the apparatus comprising: a guide rail mounted on a streamer deck of the vessel and extending transversely over at least a part of the width of the streamer deck; a trolley comprising a guide wheel for engaging the guide rail to be guided thereby in its movement across the streamer deck, and a clamping device for gripping the inboard end of part of a streamer whose other end is deployed over the stern end of the streamer deck.
 14. A method for streamer handling on a seismic survey vessel, the method comprising: reeling in a first streamer over a trolley until an inboard end of the first streamer reaches the trolley; clamping the inboard end of the first streamer to a clamping device; disconnecting the clamped portion of the first streamer from the remaining portion of the first streamer; moving the trolley and the clamped portion of the first streamer using a guide mounted on the vessel to a location of a second streamer; and connecting the clamped portion of the first streamer to an end of the second streamer.
 15. The method as claimed in claim 14, additionally comprising releasing the clamping device.
 16. The method as claimed in claim 14, additionally comprising deploying the connected portion of the first streamer and the second streamer.
 17. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the guide comprises a guide rail adapted to be secured to but spaced above the streamer deck, the trolley comprising at least one guide wheel for engaging the underside of the guide rail.
 18. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein moving the trolley comprises driving the trolley with a motor. 